Sheriff laments liberalism, environmental extremists

VACAVILLE — Environmental extremism brings economic ruin, while liberalism produces polices such as California’s new self-identifying gender law that allows a male student to shower in the girls locker room, the Vaca Valley Tea Party was told this week.

“It’s lunacy,” Jon Lopey, sheriff of Siskiyou County, said of the state measure.

He noted the anger of rural northern Colorado counties with Denver and said many Northern Californians are “kind of mad at people in San Francisco and Los Angeles.”

Solano and Siskiyou counties stand for freedom, said Lopey, a 1972 graduate of Vacaville High School, who spoke Wednesday. “It was always a very special place,” he said of Vacaville.

Even when the war in Vietnam wasn’t particularly popular in the country, Lopey said, “It was always a patriotic town.”

Noting that the tea party meeting began Wednesday with the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer in the name of Jesus, Lopey said, “Siskiyou County is kind of like this. We still pray. A lot of people carry guns.”

“Our way of life is at stake,” the sheriff said.

We have a federal administration, Lopey said, more concerned about gay rights and privileges to gay couples on military bases than about our national defense.

Lopey, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, said environmental extremism is among the ways the U.S. Constitution is usurped.

“What’s happening in rural America is happening here,” he said. “It’s just more subtle.”

At meetings, environmental activists always bring a lawyer and a scientist, said Lopey, who said he’s often told that he doesn’t understand the situation. Lopey said he responds at such gatherings by saying it’s the others who don’t understand.

“It’s kind of a power thing,” Lopey said of activists. “That’s what this is all about. It’s a radical agenda.”

Lopey, speaking to a packed room in Vacaville, recounted how Siskiyou County had 22 lumber mills in the early 1980s but now has two. Regulations seek to protect the spotted owl while the timber industry is almost destroyed, he said.

Once proud and prosperous communities are home to problems, including drug abuse and marijuana cultivation, the sheriff said.

“I’d rather have somebody working at the mill than growing marijuana,” said Lopey, who spoke about getting hate mail from Colorado, where recreational use of marijuana has been legalized.

Rural California, already reeling from environmental regulations, now faces new economic threats from dam removals, he said. Government dependency replaces freedom and incentive, the sheriff said. Agencies adopt regulations and say the actions followed a public hearing – which, Lopey said, three people attended.

The federal agency known as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tried a criminal investigation in Siskiyou County after the alleged death of a few minnows in a puddle on private property, he said. The California Department of Food and Agriculture told a couple living in the county that their three cows represented an illegal dairy and $250,000 in equipment was required to comply with regulations, Lopey said.

Environmental activists want to reintroduce the Northern Gray Wolf and declare the animal an endangered species, the sheriff said, while ranchers face costs of $11,000 a year from livestock deaths and other losses.

The media – “this is a startling revelation” Lopey joked – is generally against ranchers and farmers. News coverage also misrepresents the tea party, which he said is made up of “good people.”

Lopey spoke about seeing the movie “Lone Survivor” and how some people in the media have said the film glorifies war. Once every four to five years we get a decent movie honoring the military and “we have people complaining about it,” the sheriff said.

He quoted Louis Brandeis, a U.S.Supreme Court justice from 1916 to 1939, about the Founding Fathers who “believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty.”

The sheriff recounted trying to get an M1 rifle and bayonet – weapons his uncle, killed during military service in World War II, once used. Lopey spoke about the organizational maze in the government he faced because his name matched a felon.

“The system is just so bureaucratic,” he said. “You get somebody looking at a computer screen.”

Lopey said during his talk at Pietro’s No. 2 restaurant that when he wished “Merry Christmas” to someone with a pro-marijuana group, he was told that not everyone celebrates that holiday and the greeting shouldn’t be used.

He calls it Christmas because it is Christmas, said Lopey. He said he told his staff that a Nativity scene will be placed in the lobby of the sheriff’s office in Siskiyou County next December, “just to see what happens.”

The MisterJanuary 17, 2014 - 5:34 am

CD BrooksJanuary 17, 2014 - 6:46 am

GREAT NEWS for hom*phobes and gun nuts everywhere! So it's really okay for a professional law enforcement official to spew this garage? Whack job. Hype guns and god out of one side of his mouth denounce gay citizens and their rights out the other. Disgusting But nothing less than what we clear thinking citizens would expect from a Tea Party gathering. I really hope the support for this anti-American, Anti-Constitutional Anti Declaration of Independence cop doesn't go too deep.

The MisterJanuary 17, 2014 - 7:06 am

CD BrooksJanuary 17, 2014 - 7:23 am

The Mister, you should not come at me you've never once brought an iota of evidence to counter my assertions. Why? Because I speak the truth and bring facts. You have nothing but some perverse misunderstanding of life.

Revelation 6:8......And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. Revelation 18:2......... And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.....But with the introduction of wolves again (with the beasts of the earth)....and vultures...(unclean and hateful bird)....maybe this reintroduction explains it.

Turkey Vulture Rap by Joe ReillyJanuary 18, 2014 - 9:09 am

FDCJanuary 17, 2014 - 7:38 am

Once again the ubiquitous hatemonger, CD Brooks, spews false information by completely misrepresenting what Sheriff Lopey said. CD wasn't there so he grabs bits and pieces of what Mr. McCarthy wrote and stitches those pieces into a completely false picture. Sheriff Lopey did not "denounce gay citizens and their rights" period. CD, you made that up out of thin air so as to allow you to spew hatred. Sheriff Lopey did express his own opinion that Sacramento spends an inordinate amount of time pushing the LGBT agenda and not much time worrying about the rest of our population, citing the Bathroom Bill as an example of lawmaking run awry. Sheriff Lopey did not "hype guns and god". He did describe his own experiences and CD, after all, he is a lawman required to carry and, if necessary, use a weapon. Is that "hyping"? And would you prohibit Sheriff Lopey from the right to freely exercise his belief in a higher power? And, CD, the Tea Party (which is not a "party") does not need your approval to freely assemble and discuss events. You, Sir, are totally irrelevant but you just don't get it. By the way, CD, Sheriff Lopey is a lawman with 30 plus years in the California Highway Patrol, a retired, decorated US Army colonel, a veteran with combat experience, and a gentleman with friends and supporters throughout California and the US. Some "whack job", CD.

CD BrooksJanuary 17, 2014 - 7:45 am

FDCJanuary 17, 2014 - 7:54 am

CD, you weren't there and all you know is what you read in the newspaper, affirming what Thomas Jefferson said, to wit: “The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.”

CD BrooksJanuary 17, 2014 - 8:01 am

FDCJanuary 17, 2014 - 8:26 am

Again, CD, you just pulled that out of the air so that you could spread more hatred and also divert attention away from the fact, repeat FACT, that you don't have the foggiest notion about what the Sheriff did say or did not say. A silly little man you are, CD. Be happy in your prigdom.

CD BrooksJanuary 17, 2014 - 8:33 am

FDC, clearly you are incapable of comprehension, your vocabulary notwithstanding. If that cop wasn't spewing hatred disguised in some sort of "Constitutional veil," then I would stand corrected. That is not the case Sir, believe it.

FDCJanuary 17, 2014 - 9:04 am

Run, run, run, CD. The harder you run away from the facts, the more you reveal of your own biases. Your refusal to allow any opinions other than your own to be expressed is typical of the priggish nature of your very narrow understanding of the rights of your fellow citizens. Since you won't stand your ground on the facts of what Sheriff Lopey said or did not say, you just can't "stand corrected." Wallow in your prig sty and hurl those insults, CD.

FDCJanuary 17, 2014 - 10:48 am

CD: please quote the "insults" you claim Sheriff Lopey "hurled." Quote, mind you, not guess. You can't because that claim is utterly false, just as is the rest of your rant. Again, you dodge and weave by throwing out more baloney and not addressing the facts. As for feeling sorry for me, how touching.

CD BrooksJanuary 17, 2014 - 2:25 pm

Mr. C, I’ve wasted years answering to your nonsense. This guy is the most dangerous of the types you so dearly support. I am curious though, was he paid for this "visit?" No need for us to continue our jousts. Good bye Sir.

FDCJanuary 18, 2014 - 7:17 am

CD, you couldn't leave without a parting cheap shot, could you? You have an unlimited supply of nasty remarks you dump on the reading public on any subject at any time. You tried to besmirch the reputation of an honorable, ethical gentleman who has dedicated his life to public service and who was willing to place his body between the strife of war and us back here. You failed. Good riddance to you, Sir.

rlw895January 17, 2014 - 8:31 am

Where's the "O"?January 17, 2014 - 8:36 am

You can youtube.... Sheriff Jon LopeyJanuary 17, 2014 - 11:47 am

and see what he says for yourself....I have not had time to do this yet.....but remember the litmus test is if they are willing to say 9/11 was an inside job with the help of both the Republicans and Democrats

I hope he is a good guy but....January 17, 2014 - 11:54 am

From his bio.......Sheriff Lopey recently graduated from the FBI National Academy, Session # 253 (this always worries me)..........Sheriff Lopey holds numerous decorations and awards for his military service including the Legion of Merit, three Bronze Star Medals, one with “V” device, Combat Action Badge, Parachutist Badge, and he was awarded the Afghan Medal of Merit, First Class, by the Government of Afghanistan for his contributions in support of the Afghan National Police..........So does he know 9/11 was an inside job on the Republican watch with the help of top Democrats?......someone should ask him this question...

I hope he is a good guy but.....January 17, 2014 - 12:01 pm

Everyone should realize that there are a lot of "dual uniform", CIA, FBI, NSA, dark ops Military components, planted in all aspects of local law enforcement, state, county and city even.....and these guys are kind of brain washed to support the Military/Industrial complex, who may not even know they are being manipulated......it is an advanced form of PSYOP to keep the left/right democrat/republican dialectic going full force........again I do not know about this guy, but some items do raise red flages.....again I hope he is a good guy...but remember people question everything cause they lie to us....even though I would probably agree with a lot of things he is saying.